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Thursday, April 11, 2013

The waiting......food allergy testing

The waiting is the hardest part......
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMyCa35_mOg

Enjoy the music!

I would love to know why blood test results take so long. Why does it have to take two weeks. I am very impatient about stuff like this. I have been staying very busy but my mind wanders often. What if her levels are worse? Well, that means that nothing changes. We carry on as we have been for the last four years. What if her numbers went down? That would lead us to the skin test. The scratch test. That won't be fun for her but I don't think it will be as bad as the blood draw. Once they do the test we will have to wait for about twenty minutes to see if she reacts. Hives, redness, welts etc. If she does react, then we are done and we carry on as we have been. If she doesn't react...if she doesn't react....I'm afraid I will faint, cry, do an embarrassing happy dance in the allergists office. That will lead us to many food challenges, "the gold standard" as they are known in the allergy world. We did a coconut food challenge a few years ago just to make sure that she could have it. It took forever. I was so stressed and this was a test to a food that I knew she was not allergic to. They checked her vital signs and skin first. Circling some eczema spots on her skin in pen (she thought that was awesome). Then she ate a tiny amount of coconut and we waited. The Dr. came back, checked her vitals, and then gave her some more. This went on for a few hours. I can't even begin to imagine how many food challenges that she will have to endure for tree nuts. OK, I just looked through her past test results and there are ten nuts that she would have to food challenge for. 10! I also can't imagine letting her eat nuts. How can I watch her eat walnuts when that is what almost took her from us?
I am so getting ahead of myself. I hope I haven't set myself up for major disappointment.

4 comments:

  1. I'm with you. Waiting is the worst. Feeding your child something that you have viewed as being lethal for so long feels so conflicting. Prayers for speedy test results and for improvement in her levels.

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  2. Yes, it is so conflicting. Thanks!

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  3. I have been though this. We finally got to an in office food challenge and he was so sick and we almost wound up in trauma. so scary. I gave it. He is what he is and if we never get anything back he can have a careful but full life.

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  4. Yes, I am afraid of getting to that point and having her react.

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